It’s about ability

“It’s about ability” – awareness raising campaign on inclusion of children with disabilities by UNICEF, Government of Montenegro, European Commission, Associations of parents of children with disabilities and other partners from September 1 to December 1, 2010

PODGORICA, September 28, 2010 – Minister of Education, Mr. Slavoljub Stijepovic, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Mr. Suad Numanovic and UNICEF Deputy Regional Director Ms. Kirsi Madi together with the school parliament in the primary school “Savo Pejanovic” in Podgorica will launch “It’s about ability” publications created by UNICEF for and with the participation of children to explain the first human rights Convention of the 21st century - Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. On Tuesday, September 28, from 9.15 to 10.00am the school parliament will have a session about inclusion of children with disabilities based on UNICEF’s publications “It’s about ability”. The representative of the school parliament will join the high level guests at the press conference at 10.00am in the school to present the conclusions from the school parliament’s session.

UNICEF has published two booklets, “It’s About Ability. An Explanation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” and “It’s About Ability. Learning Guide on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. The text for the explanation of the UNCRPD for children was drafted by Victor Pineda, founder of the Victor Pineda foundation and delegate to the Ad Hoc Committee that drafted the UNCRPD, while the text for the learning guide was written by Valerie Kerr, an expert in child education and disability from Columbia University.

They describe what the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is about in a child-friendly way, accentuated by drawings and pictures. Children will learn from these booklets the reasons the creation of the first human rights Convention of the 21st century - Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Apart from the summary of the Convention, the booklets suggest concrete actions that can be taken to help children with disabilities realize their rights. The publications aim at empowering children and young people with and without disabilities to become advocates of inclusion and to raise awareness at an early age for the importance of an inclusive society.

So far, these booklets for children, youth leaders, peer educators, teachers and community workers have been translated and distributed in many countries worldwide. On September 28, 2010, within the three month awareness raising campaign on inclusion of children with disabilities “It’s about ability” implemented by UNICEF, Government of Montenegro, European Commission, Associations of parents of children with disabilities and other partners, Montenegrin version of these booklets will be launched in the primary school “Savo Pejanovic” in Podgorica. The publications will be distributed to all primary schools and children’s institutions in Montenegro in order to support teachers and other professionals working with children to raise their awareness about the rights of children with disabilities and to help them undertake concrete actions to make their schools and communities fully inclusive.

According to the UNICEF supported knowledge, attitudes and behaviour survey conducted among 1,000 Montenegrin citizens in August 2010, just slightly more than one out of ten citizens state that they know a lot about children with disabilities, while the rest are evenly distributed between those who claim that they know nothing or very little (44%) and those who state that they know something (43%). Citizens who know a lot about these children are also more optimistic regarding the possibility of their inclusion into the society.